NMS's 2018 National Geo Bee Competition

Nichols Middle School Geography Bee Finalist Decided

According to the National Geographic Society:
"The National Geographic Bee is an annual competition organized by the National Geographic Society, designed to inspire  and reward students' curiosity about the world. Students from 10,000 schools across the United States are competing in the 2017 National Geographic Bee for a chance to win college scholarships and the glory of being the National Geographic Bee Champion."
At Nichols, students competed in seven rounds of competition held on each team for the right to represent their team in the School Championship.  The competition was fierce and many students did a great job showing excellent knowledge of World and American Geography.  

The school level championship was held in the Middleborough Professional Development Center at Nichols run by NMS Social Studies Department Leader Mr. Don Rothemich.  Eight students competed in multiple rounds of competition that involved verbal answers, written answers, and the use of maps.  We have a representative from each of the teams from sixth and seventh grade, and then two representatives from each team in eighth grade (for it is their last chance).  

The 2018 NMS Finalists were:
Daniel Collins - Challengers
James Morrissey - Adventurers
Siya Patel - Explorers
Brett Morse -  Beacons
Tim Johnson - Apollos

Jack LeGendre - Apollos
Nicholas Coe - Comets 

Dale Lyerla -  Comets  

In third place was sixth grade student, James Morrissey.  Eighth Grade students, Nicholas Coe and Dale Lyerla competed in the final championship round.  After three questions, Nicholas proved to be our Geography school champion. Nicholas will take a test online to determine whether he is selected to represent Nichols at the state level championship.

For the other Finalists, it was tough competition, considering this is Nicholas's third year as school champion.  We wish him good luck on his qualifier test!  Awesome job, Nicholas!

NMS 2018 Intramural Floor Hockey Open to All

NMS Intramural Floor Hockey Open to All

NMS Intramural Floor Hockey starts on Wednesday, February 14.

Please turn in completed intramural forms and $25 money order to Mr. Thompson to play.  Forms are available in the Main Office as well as from Mr. Thompson in the Gym.

All players will meet in the gym on Wednesday, February 14.  Late bus passes will be provided if needed.

Intramurals will meet on mostly on Mondays and Wednesdays after-school from 2:30 to 3:30 PM, but the schedule is fluid.

Questions, please contact NMS PE Teacher Mr. Thompson at tthompso@middleboro.k12.ma.us

Have fun.

Trimester 2 Progress Reports Distributed Friday, 1/26

Second Trimester Progress Reports

Progress Reports for Trimester 2 will be issued this afternoon, Friday, January 26, and it symbolizes that not only are we halfway through the trimester, but that we are halfway through the school year.  Your child will be coming home with the Progress Report as well as a receipt that needs to be signed and returned to school on Monday, January 29.

The marks that you have found on this progress report should never be a surprise to either you or the student.  Please make sure you check out the grades as well as the comments, which could mention progress for Conduct and Effort.  Please make sure you look for them.  

If you feel that discussion regarding your child’s progress or lack of it in any of these categories is needed, please make an appointment to schedule a time that would offer both you and the teacher enough time to adequately discuss your child's present situation.  We need to make sure there is an open door of communication between school and home that is necessary to bring both the teacher and you to the same page in this educational journey.  As for the progress report, it is just that:  progress.  Students should understand that the marks that are present at the halfway point of a term can change easily in either direction. Students should recognize that they can very simply transform those grades, again, in either direction.  So if the grades were high-quality, students need to continue with the work habits they have displayed in the first month or so, and if the grades were not where they should have or could have been then that student needs to understand that a change in work habits is needed.  Remember also, please keep up with checking in with your child on what's due or might be coming due on a nightly basis and also checking Aspen's parent portal, for this will help in keeping track as to where your child's grades stand as they progress through the rest of the trimester.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us here.  Thank you and have a great weekend.

2018 NMS Yearbook Price Is About to Increase -- Buy Now

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

ONE YEAR.

YOUR YEAR.

ONE BOOK.

YOUR BOOK.

YOUR CHANCE TO PRESERVE IT ALL.

Don’t miss out!

It’s time to purchase the

2018 NMS Yearbook!

Hardcover, 60 pages, all color.

Save $$$ if you order early!

If you order now, the price of the 2018 NMS Yearbook is only $21.

After January 31, the book's price is $23.

*No orders will be taken after May 1, 2018

If you don’t order, you risk the possibility of not getting a yearbook.

Here is what will happen if you don't

If you need assistance in placing your order

call Order Center support at 866.287.3096

Order #13678

To upload photos for consideration in the yearbook via eShare

go to eShare.  A free service from Herff Jones that allows students, parents, and community to submit photos for potential use in the yearbook.   

Any questions, please contact NMS Yearbook Advisor Ms. Walgreen.

NMS 7th Grade SBIRT

Letter Going Home to 7th Grade Students

This afternoon, Friday, January 26, with our 2nd Trimester Progress Reports a letter is going to go home with all of our Seventh Grade students.

This letter is in reference the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) protocol, which all Massachusetts schools are mandated to do.

I have attached the letter here from Ms. Karen Bertram, our NMS Nurse.

January 26, 2018

Dear Grade 7 Families:

This school year all Massachusetts school districts are required to include a substance use preventive screening as part of their annual mandated universal health-screening program. Our district will use the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) protocol with students in grade 7 at NMS (and at Grade 9 at MHS). The SBIRT protocol facilitates a one-on-one conversation between each student and a school nurse or counselor in an effort to prevent or at least delay the start of using harmful substances, such as alcohol and marijuana. This program focuses on reinforcing healthy decisions and addressing concerning behaviors around substance use with the goal of improving health, safety and success in school. This is the second reminder that we will be conducting this screen on the 7^th grade students at the Nichols Middle School. The screens will be completed during the month of February.

We will use the CRAFFT II screening interview, which is the most commonly used substance use screening tool for adolescents in Massachusetts. All screenings will be conducted in a confidential setting in private one-on-one sessions with one of the nurses or counselors trained in SBIRT screening. Students who are not using substances will have their healthy choices reinforced. The screener will provide brief feedback to any student who reports using substances, or is determined to be at risk for future substance use. What your child tells the screener is confidential, and will not be shared with any other person without prior written consent of the student, parent or guardian, except in cases of immediate medical emergency or when disclosure is otherwise required by state law. No written record of the results of this verbal screening is kept with information that identifies any individual student. Screening results will not be included in your child’s school record.

The student’s parent or guardian may opt-out of the screening by written notification any time prior to or during the screening. Students may also opt-out at the time of the screening.  Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions or would like your child to opt-out of the screening. You may have already “opted-out” and this is already recorded. This is an additional opportunity to decline the screen, if you choose to do so.

Together, schools and parents CAN make a difference for the youth in our community. One way to prevent youth substance use is to talk with your child about your thoughts and expectations regarding substance use.  You can view the CRAFFT tool and other SBIRT resources on www.masbirt.org/schools website.

Thank you,

Karen Bertram

School Nurse

“...to foster a culture of excellence within every student, in every classroom every day.”

The Middleborough Public School Systems does not discriminate in its educational activities or employment practices on the basis of age, color, creed, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, genetic information, homelessness, marital status, national origin, political affiliation, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other basis protected by federal and/or state law.

After the meeting with our Nurse, students will be given a booklet.  It is produced by Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Here are some of the pages of the booklet.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Ms. Bertram or myself, Mr. Geoghegan.

 

NMS Club Update -- The Girls Who Code Club

NMS Winter Club Update

The Girls Who Code Club

Advisor: Ms. Mayeski

The Girls Who Code Club (GWC) is a nationwide club for students in grades 6 through 12, that encourages kids to be involved in, and learn about, technology and computer science. It is specifically focused on helping to close the gender gap in technology and engineering careers however, the club is open to all students, regardless of gender.

The Nichol’s GWC Club started out strong on Monday, January 6 with 19 members from all three grades! Club Members had a busy first meeting where they wrote and signed their club contract and found out more about all the amazing opportunities that this nationwide club would offer them. Club Members enrolled in the GWC’s incredible online classroom and talked about the Computer Science (CS) Impact Project that they would be working on for the next couple of months. Club Members talked about the social issues that they thought were most important and that they would be most interested in helping with their technology project. While there were many issues discussed, the GWC narrowed their choices down to animal rights and suicide prevention.

On Monday, January 29, our kids will continue on their computer science journey by picking what type of technology project they want to create and getting started on learning how to create it using the GWC’s online class dashboard. On their GWC account, students can choose from diverse types of coding lessons including app creation, website design and even an IBM chatbot program! We’ll also be spotlighting how technology helped Miral Kotbe found her dance company, iLuminate which has been featured on "America’s Got Talent." It’s going to be a great time!

Any questions, please contact Ms. Mayeski, or just start coming on Monday afternoons in Ms. Mayeski's STEM Room B200.

Next NMS School Council Meeting, Wed January 24, 3PM

2017-2018 John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School Council

Are you interested in getting involved with your child’s education in another way besides PTA or fundraising?

Would you like to be more involved in some of the academic aspects and decision making of your child's education here at Nichols?

If you are, then seriously consider whether you would be interested in joining the Nichols Middle School Council (also called a School Improvement Council).  By law, every school in the country has to have a School Council.  

The law outlines four major areas of responsibility for councils.  School councils are to assist principals in:  

1. Adopting educational goals for the school that are consistent with local educational policies and statewide student performance standards; 
2. Identifying the educational needs of students attending the school; 
3. Reviewing the annual school building budget; and 
4. Formulating a school improvement plan.

Over the past five years, our School Improvement Plan and School Council have been instrumental in helping us to change our bell schedule, adding back a second assistant principal, obtaining a consistent math program throughout the building, affecting change in all areas of our curricula, securing more technology to being a 1-to-1 Chromebook school, getting more student recognition to be a priority for us as a school, to name just a few.

We meet once a month on the 4th Wednesday of each month, except where specified below – with our next meeting happening on Wednesday, January 24, for about an hour, beginning at 3:00 PM and ending around 4 PM, in the NMS Media Center to discuss such items as our School Improvement Plan, parent involvement, how we are working with MCAS data, what we are doing to improve teaching and learning, different curricular ideas, courses, etc.  In all, the group is not so much similar to the “PTA” in improving the school through fundraising; it is more a group of community members who are looking into school improvement and how we can get the improvement we are looking for.

The group is made up of parents, teachers, and at least one community member.  If you are interested or would just like to come and check it out, please come to our next meeting, Wednesday, January 24, at 3 PM, in the Media Center at NMS or email me at mgeoghegan@middleboro.k12.ma.us.

If you have any questions, please let me know.  Thank you.

2017 – 2018 NMS School Council Meetings

January 24, 2018

February 28, 2018**

March 28, 2018**

April 25, 2018

May 23, 2018

** All dates are the 4th Wednesday of each month – except where specified

Reminder: 2018 NMS STEM Fair -- Register by Fri 1/26

Open To All Students

Calling ALL Future Scientists, Tinkerers, Makers, & Creators...We want YOU!

Dear Nichols Students and Families,

The 62nd annual Middleboro S.T.E.M. Fair (formerly the Science Fair) will be held on Wednesday, April 11th at the John T. Nichols Middle School.

Participation is now voluntary and is open to all students’ grades 6-8. NMS science teachers will be available to guide and assist any student who is interested in participating.

There are four categories of projects: ILLUSTRATIVE, ENGINEERING/DESIGN, EXPERIMENTAL, and PLANT EXPERIMENTAL.

Illustrative/Research projects answer a scientific question or process through research and illustration.  For example: the life cycle of a butterfly; how do bees make honey; our solar system; how the human circulatory system works.  

Inventions (Engineering Design/Technology Build) are solutions to problems that were developed using the steps of the Engineering Design Process.

Controlled Experiment projects prove a theory through the use of the scientific method (question, hypothesis, experiment to collect data, conclusion).

Plant Science Controlled Experiment projects prove a theory related to plant growth and agriculture. This is a special category sponsored by the Williams Trading Post.

You should register your child

NO LATER THAN Friday, January 26th.

It is important that you register soon.  We need to know who will be participating so we can order awards and so we can begin to know how many judges we will need the day of the fair. 

A Google Classroom has been set up for students and parents to join to get information.

If you are interested in participating see your science teacher for the classroom code to join or contact Mr. Scott Redpath, NMS Science Department Chair.

Please see your science teacher to get the proposal/outline which is necessary to complete in order to indicate your desire to participate in this year’s science fair.  Return it as soon as possible to your science teacher. Contact your child’s science teacher with any questions.

Please note: no live animals, peanut products, hazardous materials or flames are allowed at the fair. We hope you encourage your children to pursue science in this fun and exciting hands-on way!

A $100 gift card prize and trophy will be given to the first place winners in each category. Trophies will be given for 2nd and 3rd place finishers, and every child who participates will receive recognition for their hard work.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Thank you,

John T. Nichols Middle School Science and Technology Department

NMS Club Update -- GSA Club

NMS Winter Club Update

NMS GSA Club

Advisor: Ms. Ciulla

Ms. Ciulla, our NMS GSA Club Advisor has sent in a club update on what our NMS GSA Club has been up to.

In the last few meetings of NMS GSA, students have shared some of their current concerns, or challenges, they may be facing in and out of school when it comes to their sexual identity. Students talked about how they can have more positive interactions with those around them, who may not necessarily relate to their personal struggles, or those who might not quite understand. 

It is amazing to see the large amount of support within a rather small, but tightly knit group of individuals. 

As a health educator, I not only support and help guide them to a more positive mindset, but I am always learning new facts, new terms, and new perspectives from many of the Club members. 

We have discussed the positives among the LGBTQ+ community during the present day as well as issues from the past. For example, we discussed how California has become the first state to legally recognize the third gender option. 

NMS GSA Club has been moving in the right direction and it is especially helpful when each student has such a strong bond and is so supportive of one another.

Thank you, Ms. Ciulla, for supporting our students in this inclusive club experience for them.

If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Ciulla.

NMS Drama Club Spring Play "Villain School" Cast & Crew Selected

NMS Theatrical Players' Club

Villain School

Spring Play Cast&Crew Selected

Ms. Weaver is happy to announce the Cast and Crew, who auditioned for the Spring Play, "Villain School."  Congratulations.

She could not be happier with all the students who tried out.  She thanked them profusely for their courage to step up to the stage.

Monday, January 22, all Cast and Crew will meet in the Auditorium after-school.

Any questions, please contact Ms. Weaver.